FicWad

Two Weeks Later

I woke up, stretched, and noticed Pete was gone. My stomach growled, and I looked down at my Sidekick and saw it was already 1:30. The boys were already at sound check. After changing clothes, I grabbed a bag of chips and a soda and walked towards the venue. As I was walking, I noticed a couple of girls walking around the arena. I didn't really pay any attention to them, until they spotted me. They ran over towards me.

"You're Pete Wentz's girlfriend, right?" the one girl with blonde hair asked.

"Yeah." I was expecting them to ask me if I could get them backstage or something.

The other girl with brown hair grabbed my arm, squeezing it hard, as I tried to shake her loose. The blond girl then got really close to me and said, "You little bitch. You took Pete from me."\

"I took Pete from you? Pete doesn't even know who you are. Besides what would he want with a 16 year old anyway?"

Before I could react, she pulled back her fist and punched me. I winced as her fist made contact with my eye. Looking around desperately for help, I saw Charlie coming out of one of the doors.

"Charlie!" I screamed as loud as I could. He looked up, and took off running towards me. The girls took off running, but not before the brunette punched me in the stomach. I slumped to the ground, dropping the chips and soda that were still in my hand.

"What happened?" he demanded, as he looked around for the girls, but they were long gone.

I just silently shook my head, still too shocked to speak, as the tears rolled down my face.

"C'mon let's get you to Pete," he said, as he gently pulled me off the ground and wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders. We walked inside, and Charlie sat me in a chair on the side of the stage. He then walked out onto the stage, going up to Pete, whispered something to him, and Pete ran off the stage. Pete kneeled down in front of me and grabbed my hands.

"Are you okay?" he asked, as he ran his finger over my rapidly swelling eye.

I nodded.

"What happened?"

I hesitated, unsure of what to say, scared of his reaction. He would blame himself.

"Talk to me," he said softly.

I took a deep breath, my voice barely above a whisper, "I woke up and saw you were gone. So I got ready and was walking towards the arena. These two teenage girls came up to me. I thought they just wanted to meet you guys. Then one of the girls grabbed my arm."

I tried to hide my arm, but Pete stopped me and saw the finger shaped bruises on my arm. Anger flashed in his eyes.

"Then the other girl told me to stay away from you, and that I had taken you from her. I told her you wouldn't want anything to do with her, so she punched me. That's when Charlie came." I decided not to tell him about the other punch.

Pete stood up and began pacing, his bass hitting him as he walked. He hadn't even bothered to take it off.

"This is all my fault. I'm sorry."

"No, baby, it isn't. And don't be sorry," I said, as I got up and grabbed him by the shoulders to keep him from moving. At the same time, I slid the bass strap over his head and set it to the side.

"But if I wasn't in the band, then you wouldn't have been attacked."

"That may be true. But if you weren't in the band, then you wouldn't be happy. Peter, I'm tough. And if being with you means I have to take a punch or two, then that's okay too. I love you and you love me. That's all that matters."

Pete pulled me into his arms, and rested his chin on my head.

"But you shouldn't be taking punches for me. I should be the one protecting you. I'm going to keep saying I'm sorry though. I won't let anyone hurt you again."

I pulled back some. "Don't beat yourself up over it. Like they say, 'Shit happens,'" I said, smilingly slightly, trying to reassure him. However that turned out not to be such a good idea, since it made my eye hurt and I winced.

"Come on, let's go get some ice for your eye." He grabbed my hand and led me to the dressing room. The rest of the guys were already there, and they gasped when they saw me. While Pete went to get ice, I retold my story to them. As I was finishing, Pete came in and handed me a bag of ice and a painkiller. I held the ice up to my face and listened to the conversations that Andy, Patrick, and Joe were having, who were set on distracting me from the situation. Pete sat on the couch, withdrawn. I rested my other hand on his leg, and smiled at him, trying to draw him out. He smiled back, but it wasn't genuine.

A little while later, I stood up. Immediately Pete asked where I was going.

"I'm hungry. I'm going to get something to eat."

"Sit. I'll go get it for you."

I sighed as I sat back down. So Pete was going to treat me like I was breakable. But I didn't want to start a fight, so I just went along with it. He came back a few minutes later with a sandwich, chips, and cookies. I grabbed at the cookies, but Pete held them out of my reach and laughed. I was glad to see his mood changing.

"Nope, you have to eat the rest of your food first."

"Yes, dad," I pouted. He, however, proceeded to open the cookies and eat them.

"Hey!" I protested. "If I can't have them, then you can't either."

"Too bad. I'm Pete Wentz, I'll do whatever I want," he said, smirking.
I quickly finished eating before he ate them all, and held out my hands for the cookies.

"Here you go Cookie Monster," he said, handing me the rest of the cookies.

"I don't look like a monster."

"Have you seen the way you look in the morning?"

In response, I threw a cookie at his head. He didn't say anything after that. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing video games.

"Come on, let me have a head start," I pleaded. "I can only see out of one eye." I could see perfectly fine. I just wanted to win. I was good, but Joe was way better than me.

"You're such a liar Connor," Joe said. "I know you can see just fine. Stop trying to cheat like Pete. Hey I rhymed."

I stuck my tongue out at him as the race started. "You're going down Trohman."

"Ooo...I'm scared."

A few minutes later Joe and I were neck and neck both of pulling out all the dirty tricks. At the very end when it looked like I was going to win, Joe was able to push past me to win.

"Ha! I win," he said, laughing.

"I told you I could only see out of one eye," I complained, as I gave the controller to Andy to let him play. I sat next to Pete on the couch.

"Stop making excuses," Joe said. "I won fair and square."

"You just took advantage of a poor girl who couldn't see."

"I'll play you again when your eye's better and you'll still lose."

Before I could retort, the guys were told they needed to start getting ready. While Pete was getting dress, I went to go hang out with Patrick while he was warming up.

While he was setting up his computer, he began talking to me about earlier.

"Are you sure you're okay? And don't give me that bullshit answer you gave Pete."

I smiled slightly, these guys knew me way too well. "I guess. I mean, physically, I'm okay, but mentally, no. That really scared me. I knew there were freaky fans out there, but I never thought I'd have to deal with one."

"I don't think any of us do, but it's something that crosses all of our minds."

"Honestly, I was scared of Pete's reaction. You know how protective he can be. I don't want him to blame himself."

"No matter what you tell him, he will. That's Pete for you. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if he lost you. Let him be overprotective of you for a while. He'll get it out of his system. He won't treat you like a child forever."

"I hope not," I said, sighing. "But you're right."

Just then Pete rushed in, looking slightly frantic. "I was looking for you."

I turned my head towards Patrick to roll my eyes. Patrick smiled and turned on the music.